Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

As a seasoned investor, you know that understanding a company's history and structure is essential, but what happens when the company itself transforms? Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH), the major U.S. metallurgical and thermal coal producer, ceased to exist as an independent entity in early 2025, completing its merger with CONSOL Energy Inc. to form Core Natural Resources, Inc.. Before the merger, Arch had a market capitalization of roughly $2.44 Billion USD as of March 2025 and was focused on high-quality coking coal, but how did this powerhouse get built, and what does its operational blueprint-which generated a trailing twelve-month revenue of $2.68 Billion-tell you about the new combined entity? We need to look back at Arch's core mission and its money-making engine to truly understand the strategic value now unlocked in Core Natural Resources, Inc.

Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) History

You're looking for the origin story of Arch Resources, Inc., but the most important thing to know is that the company you knew as Arch Resources no longer exists. It completed a merger with Consol Energy in January 2025 to form a new entity, Core Natural Resources, Inc.. Its history, however, is a classic American industrial saga of mergers, bankruptcies, and a strategic pivot from thermal (power generation) to metallurgical (steel-making) coal.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

The company's roots go back to a partnership formed to capitalize on the emerging demand for low-sulfur coal as environmental regulations began to take hold.

Year established

1969

Original location

St. Louis, Missouri

Founding team members

• Merl Kelce (a former head of Peabody Coal)
• William 'Guy' Heckman
• Ashland Oil (now Ashland Inc.)
• The H.L. Hunt family of Dallas, Texas

Initial capital/funding

The original entity, Arch Mineral Corporation, was incorporated in 1969 with a capital layout of $10 million. Ashland Oil contributed $7.5 million of that initial capital.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

The company's trajectory is a series of strategic acquisitions and financial restructurings that built it into a major U.S. coal producer before its final transformation in 2025. Here's the quick math on its evolution.

Given Company's Transformative Moments

Two major shifts define Arch Resources, Inc.'s modern history: the 2016 financial reset and the 2025 corporate exit. You can defintely see the impact of these decisions in the financials, and for a deeper dive, check out Breaking Down Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

The 2016 bankruptcy was a brutal, necessary step. It wiped out nearly $5 billion in debt, allowing the company to operate with a cleaner balance sheet and focus capital on its highest-margin assets, specifically its metallurgical coal (met coal) operations in Appalachia. This pivot was crucial because met coal, used to make steel, has a more stable, global demand profile than thermal coal, which is under pressure from renewable energy.

This strategic focus led directly to the 2025 merger. The combination with Consol Energy created Core Natural Resources, Inc., a new entity focused on high-quality met coal and thermal coal exports. The final Arch Resources, Inc. entity was highly profitable in its last full years, reporting a Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) revenue of approximately $2.68 billion USD as of November 2025, just before its ticker ARCH was retired. That TTM figure reflects the strong pricing environment and the success of their met coal strategy before the merger closed.

• Met Coal Focus: Aggressively shifted capital to high-quality metallurgical products, like the Leer South longwall mine, which is key for global steel production.
• Financial Reset: The 2016 Chapter 11 filing was a hard reset, shedding unsustainable debt and allowing the company to invest in modern, low-cost mining techniques.
• Final Merger: The January 2025 merger was the ultimate strategic move, combining two large U.S. coal producers to gain scale and operational synergies, effectively ending Arch Resources, Inc.'s life as an independent company.

So, the company's story ends not with a whimper, but with a strategic combination that created a new industry leader.

Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Ownership Structure

As of November 2025, Arch Resources, Inc. no longer trades as a standalone entity; its ownership is now embedded within the newly formed Core Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: CNR), following a merger of equals with Consol Energy Inc. The company's governance and control are determined by the combined shareholder base, with former Arch stockholders holding a significant, but minority, stake in the new enterprise.

Given Company's Current Status

Arch Resources, Inc. was officially absorbed into Core Natural Resources, Inc. on January 14, 2025, marking the successful completion of an all-stock merger of equals with Consol Energy Inc. The combined company, now valued at over $5 billion, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CNR. This transition means that Arch's former public shares ceased trading, and its ownership structure is now defined by the new Core Natural Resources capital base.

The merger was a strategic move to create a premier North American natural resource company, and it is expected to generate between $110 million and $140 million in annual cost and operational synergies within 18 months of closing. You can see a breakdown of the new company's financial standing and future outlook in Breaking Down Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The control of Core Natural Resources is split between the two legacy shareholder groups, with the majority held by institutional investors who manage capital on behalf of clients. Former Arch stockholders now own approximately 45% of the fully diluted shares of Core Natural Resources, while former Consol Energy stockholders own the remaining 55%. That's a strong stake, still giving you a lot of voice.

Here's the quick math: with approximately 51.47 million total shares outstanding for Core Natural Resources, the institutional block controls roughly 44.5 million shares.

Given Company's Leadership

The executive team for Core Natural Resources, Inc. is a blend of leaders from both legacy companies, though a recent shift has placed a Consol veteran at the helm. This is defintely a key point for understanding the new company's direction.

The leadership team, as of November 2025, is primarily composed of:

• Jimmy A. Brock: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Executive Chairman. (Appointed CEO in October 2025, succeeding former Arch CEO Paul Lang).
• Mitesh B. Thakkar: President & Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
• George J. Schuller Jr.: Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer (COO). (Former Arch executive, leading operations).
• Deck S. Slone: Senior Vice President, Strategy & Public Policy. (Former Arch executive, guiding long-term strategic direction).
• Richard A. Navarre: Lead Independent Director of the Board. (Former Arch Board Chair).

This structure, with former Arch executives like Schuller and Slone in critical COO and Strategy roles, ensures that the deep operational expertise from Arch's metallurgical coal assets remains central to Core Natural Resources' strategy, even with the CEO transition.

Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Mission and Values

The core purpose of Arch Resources, Inc., which became part of Core Natural Resources, Inc. in early 2025, centers on supplying essential metallurgical products to the global steel industry while maintaining industry-leading standards in safety and environmental stewardship. This commitment to operational excellence and ethical conduct forms the defintely strong cultural foundation that continues to guide the merged company's long-term strategy and stakeholder value creation. Breaking Down Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

Arch Resources, Inc.'s Core Purpose

The company's cultural DNA is built on a set of central principles that prioritize safety and environmental responsibility alongside its commercial goals, a focus that carried forward into the new Core Natural Resources, Inc. entity following the January 14, 2025, merger. These principles define what the company stands for beyond just generating revenue.

Official Mission Statement

While a single, concise mission statement is not formally published, the company's stated purpose is to be a premier producer of high-quality metallurgical products for the global steel industry, operating large, modern, and highly efficient mines that consistently set the industry standard for both mine safety and environmental stewardship. This mission is executed through a commitment to four central principles:

• Deep and unwavering commitment to safety.
• Environmental and social stewardship.
• Integrity and transparency in all business dealings.
• Operational excellence across all mining platforms.

Vision Statement

The long-term vision for Arch Resources, Inc. was centered on completing its strategic transition to a pure-play metallurgical coal producer, aligning its value proposition with the global economy's intensifying focus on de-carbonization by supplying a critical input for new steel production. This vision is supported by specific, measurable goals for the 2025 fiscal year:

• Achieve ResponsibleSteel™ certification at one or more metallurgical mines by the end of 2025.
• Direct more than 80 percent of capital spending toward the metallurgical segment to solidify its position as the world's leading supplier of premium High-Vol A metallurgical products.
• Use recycled water to reduce new water withdrawals from all sources by an aggregate of at least 30 percent in the 2023-2025 period, demonstrating a clear focus on water management.

Arch Resources, Inc. Slogan/Tagline

The company does not use a simple, public-facing slogan, but its core value proposition is best captured by the descriptive phrase: The Premier Producer of High-Quality Metallurgical Products for the Global Steel Industry. This phrase highlights the strategic shift that has driven the company's capital allocation, including the focus on the flagship Leer and Leer South mines, which anchor its large-scale, first-quartile metallurgical franchise. It's a precise, action-oriented statement of their market position.

Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) How It Works

Arch Resources, Inc. effectively ceased to operate as a standalone entity in January 2025, having completed an all-stock merger with CONSOL Energy Inc. to create Core Natural Resources, Inc. (CNR). The former Arch operations-primarily its world-class metallurgical mines and large-scale thermal assets-now function as key divisions within the newly formed Core Natural Resources, Inc., which is the mechanism for value creation as of November 2025.

The company makes money by mining, processing, and exporting high-quality metallurgical (met) coal for steelmaking and high-calorific-value (C.V.) thermal coal for power generation, leveraging a low-cost production base and a strategic export logistics network.

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

Given Company's Operational Framework

The operational framework, now a core part of Core Natural Resources, Inc., centers on maximizing output from best-in-class, long-life assets while controlling costs. The key is the longwall mining technique used at the former Arch metallurgical mines like Leer and Leer South, which achieves high recovery rates and low operating costs.

• Low-Cost Production: The former Arch metallurgical segment has a projected normalized per-ton cash cost of approximately $90, positioning it as a low-cost producer globally.
• Logistics Integration: The combined entity controls a strategic logistical network, including ownership interests in two East Coast marine export terminals, which provides reliable and efficient access to seaborne markets for high-value met coal.
• Operational Recovery: A significant near-term focus in 2025 is the resumption of longwall production at the Leer South mine, which is advancing with expectations for a return to full production in the fourth quarter.
• Cash Generation: The company demonstrated its cash-generating ability by producing $131.1 million in free cash flow during the second quarter of 2025, even while navigating market softness. Breaking Down Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors

Here's the quick math: the PRB segment's committed and priced position of 47.8 million tons at a realized coal revenue of approximately $14.40 per ton shows the sheer scale of the thermal business. That's a huge volume play.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

The strategic advantages of the former Arch assets, now within Core Natural Resources, Inc., are rooted in asset quality, cost structure, and the realization of merger-driven efficiencies.

• Synergy Realization: The merger is expected to generate significant annual cost and operational synergies, with the target range raised to between $150 million and $170 million annually, a 30% increase at the midpoint from the initial guidance.
• Product Diversification: The combined portfolio offers diversification across metallurgical coal, high C.V. thermal coal, and PRB thermal coal, serving global steel, industrial, and power generation customers. This mix allows the company to better weather cyclical market changes.
• Geographic and Asset Quality: Owning a portfolio of world-class, long-lived longwall mines like Leer and Leer South provides a defintely superior cost position and higher-quality product compared to many competitors.
• Capital Return Commitment: The company's commitment to returning capital is a major stakeholder advantage, having returned $194 million to shareholders in the first half of 2025 via share buybacks and dividends, which is over 100% of the free cash flow generated year-to-date.

Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) How It Makes Money

Arch Resources, Inc., prior to its merger into Core Natural Resources, Inc. in January 2025, primarily made money by mining and selling two distinct types of coal: high-value metallurgical (coking) coal for steel production in the global seaborne market, and high-volume, lower-margin thermal (steam) coal, mainly for U.S. domestic power generation.

The company's financial engine was structurally reliant on its metallurgical coal segment, which, despite lower sales volume, historically generated the vast majority of its operating profit due to premium pricing and low-cost operations at mines like Leer and Leer South. The thermal segment, particularly the Powder River Basin (PRB) operations, provided significant revenue volume but operated on thin, often breakeven, margins as the domestic power market structurally declines.

Arch Resources' Revenue Breakdown

While Arch Resources, Inc. ceased trading as an independent entity in January 2025 following the merger, the business model it established is reflected in the segment performance of the combined company, Core Natural Resources, Inc. (CNR). The revenue split below represents the approximate proportional contribution of these two core product lines to the combined enterprise's revenue base, informed by the latest 2025 market and operational data.

Business Economics

The economics of the former Arch Resources business are a tale of two markets, a dynamic that continues within Core Natural Resources. You're essentially running a high-margin, export-focused specialty business alongside a low-margin, high-volume domestic commodity operation.

• Metallurgical Coal Pricing: This is the profit driver. Prices for benchmark coking coal stabilized around $188.25 per ton by September 2025, after dropping to four-year lows earlier in the year. The price is driven by global steel production, especially infrastructure growth in Asia, with India being a key growth engine for demand. The segment's realized coal revenue per ton in Q2 2025 was $114.71, demonstrating the premium nature of the product.
• Thermal Coal Pricing: This is a volume game. Average thermal coal prices are projected to decline approximately 27% year-over-year in 2025 to around $100 per metric ton, reflecting oversupply and reduced demand from the accelerating shift to renewables. The Powder River Basin (PRB) assets, a major part of the thermal segment, continue to face structural decline, with the market value of PRB coal remaining soft for the next number of years.
• Cost Advantage: The former Arch mines, particularly the Leer franchise, are world-class, low-cost longwall operations. This cost structure is defintely the key competitive edge, allowing the company to remain profitable even when market prices are soft. For instance, the metallurgical segment's cash cost of coal sold per ton was reported at $95.93 in Q2 2025.

The entire strategy is simple: maximize high-margin met coal and manage the cash-generating decline of the thermal assets.

Arch Resources' Financial Performance

Since the merger with CONSOL Energy Inc. was completed in January 2025, the most relevant financial health indicators for the combined business platform come from Core Natural Resources, Inc.'s 2025 quarterly reports. These metrics reflect the operational performance of the former Arch assets, including the high-quality metallurgical mines.

• Q2 2025 Revenue and Profitability: Core Natural Resources reported total revenues of $1,102.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. Despite a soft market and a longwall outage at the Leer South mine, the company generated Adjusted EBITDA of $144.3 million.
• Cash Generation: The business demonstrated strong cash-generating capabilities, reporting net cash provided by operating activities of $220.2 million and free cash flow of $131.1 million in Q2 2025. This strong cash flow is crucial for sustaining capital returns.
• Capital Return: The company remains focused on returning capital to stockholders, deploying $87.1 million to investors in Q2 2025 via share repurchases and quarterly dividends. Since the relaunch of the capital return program in February 2022, over $1.3 billion has been deployed.
• Synergy Capture: The merger is expected to create significant operational efficiencies, with the target for merger-related annual synergies increased to between $150 million and $170 million. This synergy capture is a direct value-add for the new company's financial health.

If you want a deeper dive into the balance sheet and liquidity, you should check out Breaking Down Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. Your next step should be to model the impact of the Leer South longwall restart, which is anticipated to reduce metallurgical coal costs to the low $90s per ton and significantly boost margins in 2026. Finance: Run a sensitivity analysis on Q4 2025 cash flow assuming a $92/ton met coal cost by end of year.

Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Market Position & Future Outlook

The standalone Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) no longer exists; it successfully merged with CONSOL Energy Inc. in January 2025 to form Core Natural Resources, Inc. (CNR), a new entity valued at approximately $6 billion. This new company is strategically positioned as a global leader in high-quality metallurgical (met) coal and high-rank thermal coal, leveraging a combined portfolio of low-cost, long-life mining assets and extensive export infrastructure.

The new Core Natural Resources is focused on capturing long-term growth in seaborne markets, particularly for steelmaking coal, while simultaneously executing on a significant synergy target projected to deliver $125 million to $150 million in annual cost savings. This shift consolidates its position as a diversified, low-cost producer, moving away from the declining domestic thermal coal market. You can dig deeper into the combined entity's financial stability and recent performance in Breaking Down Arch Resources, Inc. (ARCH) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Competitive Landscape

Core Natural Resources competes primarily in the U.S. metallurgical coal export market, where the former Arch assets provide a key advantage with premium High-Vol A coal. The combined entity holds a significant share of the total U.S. coal production market at approximately 17.4%. Relative to its peers in the metallurgical coal segment, its competitive standing is strong, though Alpha Metallurgical Resources remains the largest single met coal producer by volume.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's forward trajectory is built on structural demand for steel and operational efficiencies from the merger, but it must navigate a complex regulatory and commodity price environment. The restart of the Leer South mine by mid-2025 is a critical operational catalyst, expected to further cut metallurgical coal costs into the low $90s per ton.

Industry Position

Core Natural Resources is a premier, capital-disciplined producer, not just a miner. The company's focus is clear: high-margin metallurgical coal and high-rank thermal coal for export. Its Q1 2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $123.5 million, despite merger expenses and operational challenges, shows a solid financial base. The combined entity operates 11 mines across six states, providing a diverse portfolio that mitigates single-asset risk.

• Maintain a low-cost structure: The combined entity is a low-cost operator, a defintely necessary trait in cyclical commodity markets.
• Prioritize shareholder returns: The company has an industry-leading capital return program, including a focus on share repurchases.
• Export-focused: Ownership interest in around 25 million tonnes per annum (tpa) of export coal capacity gives it a significant logistical edge.

The key action for Core Natural Resources now is to deliver the promised merger synergies and bring the Leer South mine to full, low-cost production. If they hit the synergy target, the bottom line gets a powerful, non-market-dependent boost.